Sharks on the increase

ANOTHER shark attack this week and this time it’s on our Surf Coast at Cathedral Rock down near Lorne.

Fortunately, no major damage to the surfer attacked and he has to be feeling lucky to escape with his life.

I have mentioned previously that tagging of sharks and monitoring their migration patterns have indicated that Great Whites seem to hopefully avoid the zone between Cape Schanck and Cape Otway, but this attack reiterates that despite the monitoring, Great Whites do exist in our waters.

This attack was not at a murky river mouth and was not a dawn or dusk attack, so while there are measures we can follow to avoid sharks, nothing is certain in the ocean.

Surfers are unquestionably the at-risk group to be attacked and we can all only hope that researchers are coming up with something that protects us from sharks in the ocean.

Among surfers it’s a topic that generates discussion.

Theories are never ending on the increase of attacks and one I heard recently, which is straight forward, highlighted a few key points.

As a protected species and with Marine Parks now fully operational, numbers are increasing dramatically.

While numbers are rising, the food chain is being depleted and the sharks are coming in closer for food.

The increased number of surfers simply increases the confrontations.

Like I said earlier, let’s hope for some active solutions, soon!

Improving conditions today with light winds and reasonable left over swells should see fun waves on beaches and small reefs along the coastline. Tomorrow and into the weekend looks like small and fun beach breaks with clean winds before another burst of solid swell early next week.